Trains on the East Coast Main Line ground to a halt when a car hit a railway bridge in York.

Services were stopped for half an hour as engineers checked damage to the Leeman Road bridge, which runs above the lines near to York station. The damage was found to be superficial.

A Railtrack spokesperson said: "A stoppage of 151 minutes took place last night as engineers checked the bridge for damage. In situations like this, we check infrastructure as a matter of course to ensure that it is safe to carry further traffic.

"In this case, our engineers were satisfied the damage was superficial and services were able to resume. As far as I am aware the driver had no serious injuries."

A spokesman for GNER said the 6.20pm Kings Cross to Newcastle, was delayed for 20 minutes because of the incident.

Updated: 12:03 Thursday, June 21, 2001